New Kent Hecklers Greet New Water Deal

NEW KENT — Newport News could buy water from New Kent County for 50 years more than originally proposed, according to a new plan offered to the county Tuesday.

The city now wants up to 6 million gallons a day for 15 years and up to 2 million a year for the 50 years after that, the New Kent Board of Supervisors was told.

Jeers from a crowd of about 30 citizens drowned out some of the proposal made by David Morris, planning and programs manager for Newport News' waterworks department.

Morris said Newport News has cut its request for water from 10 million gallons a day to 6 million because a study has discovered that taking more than that over several years would seriously drain the level of water in the wells of Henrico and Hanover counties and the Chesapeake Corp.

Millard Robinson Jr., who conducted the $45,000 study for Newport News, said, "Six million gallons a day is significant but acceptable, and the State Water Control Board would probably approve that."

He said a 10-million-gallon drain would cause objections from those parties and added, "I would be concerned about the county or Newport News being responsible for a 20-foot drawdown in the Chesapeake Corporation's water."

Despite assurances by groundwater experts, the original deal worried residents and some county officials who felt it would harm local residential wells by pulling too much water from the ground too fast. Robinson confirmed that fear Tuesday. He said the original plan to draw 10 million gallons a day from the ground would have an impact on shallow wells in the county.

But Morris said after the meeting, "This request is still a lot less than we were talking in our original agreement. This is a worst-case scenario, if you're pumping full blast, every day. That's not the way I would want to operate this system."

Supervisor E. David Ringley was upset that the supervisors were a few hours away from approving the original deal last week when Newport News asked that their vote be delayed, based on the study's results.

"We were assured that 10 million gallons would not be a problem," Ringley said. "You're coming back three months after the fact and saying now it looks like 6 million. Three years from now am I going to be standing in my pharmacy wishing we had approved only 2 million?"

Much of Robinson's answer could not be heard because of loud, deliberate coughing from the audience.

Board Chairman James Burrell asked Robinson if local wells would be harmed by drawing 7 million or 9 million gallons from the deeper aquifers.

Robinson said 6 million gallons was the most that could be drawn safely. "It's impossible to make an exact determination. That's what our feeling is based on the drawdown impacts," he said.

For the third time in a month Ringley moved that all talks between the county and city cease, but the supervisors tabled his motion until September.

The Newport News proposal would also require drilling new wells because the study estimates that the Delmarva and Talleysville wells together can produce only 3.5 million gallons per day over several years.

The new water deal could still have the city building a pipe to the Talleysville well and drawing water from it for a year, Morris said. This would help New Kent keep both wells open in the face of a new state use-it-or-lose-it water rights policy.